Twilio: Consumers Demand Brands Using More Personal And Transparent AI

Illustration of chatbots (photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Twilio released the 2025 State of Customer Engagement Report (SOCER) annual report which shows a gap between brand perceptions and consumer experiences in service personalization.

A report based on a survey of more than 7,600 consumers and 600 business leaders in 18 countries revealed that 90% of brands in Indonesia are now using AI to support services.

They use AI for various purposes, ranging from analyzing customer data for personalization (100%), chatbot (94%), fraud prevention (100%), to recording interaction history for product and service recommendations (94%).

Furthermore, when almost all (94%) businesses and brands in Indonesia surveyed felt they had personalized interactions well or even very well, in fact only 72% of consumers had the same opinion.

The rest said brands should be able to do better to understand customer needs, desires, and expectations. In addition, only 10% of Indonesian consumers agree that all or almost all of their interactions with brands involve personalization.

The Twilio report also sees that trust is still a major challenge, in which 55% of consumers say they are unsure that brands are using customer data for consumer purposes, while 39% claim to have grown tired of AI.

Consumers also demand transparency and control. As many as 64% want to be notified when interacting with AI, and 88% hope the AI experience remains as communication with humans. In fact, 67% prefer to speak directly to human agents if AI fails.

"This reflects a strong desire from consumers to maintain control over their interactions with brands in the AI era, as well as a clear signal for brands to implement appropriate security strategies and measures," explained Irfan Ismail, Regional Vice President, South ASIA & APAC, ISV Sales in Twilio.

This report confirms that AI-based personalization will only have a positive impact if it is carried out with empathy, transparency, and focus on customer needs.

According to him, brands should invest in the right tools to provide large-scale personalization while maintaining transparency and prioritizing customers who can appear victorious in business competition.